"Ajit Pawar will win Baramati assembly seat by 1.5 lakh votes": NCP president Sunil Tatkare

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], June 12 : Maharashtra NCP president Sunil Tatkare confidently said on Wednesday that Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is poised to secure a decisive victory in the upcoming assembly elections, predicting a win from Baramati with a margin of 1.5 lakh votes.
Tatkare emphasized the significant progress Ajit Pawar has achieved in Baramati over the past three decades.
"In assembly elections, Ajit Pawar will win from Baramati with a margin of 1.5 lakh votes. Everyone is aware of the progress Ajit has made in Baramati over the past 30 years," Pawar said.
Tatkare also addressed the broader electoral strategy, noting the distinctive dynamics between assembly and Lok Sabha elections.
"In Lok Sabha elections, different narratives were set in the country and the state. We have a detailed discussion over it and when the NDA goes into assembly elections with BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP, all will be ready," Pawar said.
He also said that the candidate of the Rashtravadi Congress party for the upcoming assembly election will be announced tomorrow, June 13.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra NCP President backed Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's remarks in which he said that the BJP's slogan of "400 Paar" was linked to false narratives by the opposition.
"The CM (Eknath Shinde) is a seasoned politician, his party has won 7 seats (in Lok Sabha). He has a lot of experience. Maybe he is correct (BJP's 400 paar slogan backfired in Lok Sabha)," Pawar said.
Earlier in the day, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde has accused the opposition of weaving false narratives against BJP's '400 paar' slogan, which he said contributed to the electoral setback faced by National Democratic Alliance in Maharashtra and some other places in the country in the recent parliamentary elections.
"We had to suffer losses in some places because a false narrative was set up against us. In Maharashtra as well we suffered losses. The constitution will be charged and reservation will be abolished, false narratives like this propagated and because of the '400 paar' slogan, people began doubting us and believing in the false narratives," said Shinde.
Notably, during the Lok Sabha election campaigning BJP used the slogan of 'Abki baar 400 paar' to appeal for the mandate from the voters, which would help the party notch up a tally of over 400 seats in the 543-seat Lok Sabha.
The BJP won 240 seats in the Lok Sabha elections, down from its earlier tally of 303 seats in the 2019 polls.
In Maharashtra, the overall performance of the BJP saw a dip from the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, when it had gained nine seats against 23 in 2019.
The total tally of the Maha Vikas Aghadi stood at 17, with that of the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) (Ajit Pawar) being seven and one respectively.
The Congress, on the other hand, marginally improved its seat share by securing 13 seats in the state. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has secured a third term, along with the support of other parties in the coalition, primarily -- the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) and the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP.
The BJP fell 32 seats short of the 272 majority mark after votes polled in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections were counted. For the first time, since the BJP swept to power in 2014, it did not secure a majority on its own.